Ongoing History Daily: A lesson in radio frequencies (part 5)

We’ve spent the last few segments breaking down all the different frequencies we use to listen to the radio. We started with FM, then moved to AM (which also includes longwave and shortwave), and the DAB, or Digital Audio Broadcasting. Finally, we have satellite radio.

Satellites operate on a lot of different frequencies, depending on the usage case, but they’re all between 1 and 44 GHz. The GPS signals have a slice in a section called the L-band, while NASA and weather satellites use the adjacent S-band. Satellite TV uses the C-band. Just above that are military frequencies in the X-band. We finally get to satellite radio between 8 and 12 GHz, which is the Ku-band. Beyond that, there’s the Ka-band, which is for satellite internet.

The lower the frequency, the better the signals penetrate things like bad weather. High frequencies can be blocked by weather but are faster for data transfer.